SEC

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US Weighs Shaving Bankers' Pay
US Weighs Shaving Bankers' Pay
May 13, 2009 5:17 AM CDT

US Weighs Shaving Bankers' Pay

Planned rules may apply to banks that weren't bailed out

(Newser) - The Obama administration has begun an ambitious project to overhaul compensation practices across the financial  sector, including at firms that received no bailout, reports the Wall Street Journal. The government may use the powers of the Fed or the SEC, as well as congressional legislation, to prevent banks from rewarding...

Stanford Was a Drug Informant: Report

Fraudster was likely shielded from SEC in 2006 for his trouble

(Newser) - Allen Stanford may have received earlier protection from the SEC by working as a drug trade informant, a BBC investigation has found. The accused fraudster’s bank paid $3.1 million to the DEA a decade ago as a middleman for a Mexican drug lord, and in 2006 an SEC...

Fear of Feds Censors Corporate Tweets

Some complain personal touch disappearing

(Newser) - More big firms are using blogs and Twitter to keep the world up-to-date on company matters—but personal styles are colliding with federal corporate-communications rules, the Wall Street Journal reports. Firms like eBay are now adding disclaimers to once-casual tweets, leaving some readers cold. “There’s much more of...

Dirty-Dealing Madoff Was a Clean Freak
Dirty-Dealing Madoff Was a Clean Freak
investigation
Apr 24, 2009 2:01 PM CDT

Dirty-Dealing Madoff Was a Clean Freak

Ponzi schemer a Luddite who crawled on all fours to align rugs

(Newser) - "Neat freak" may be one of the more polite epithets used to describe Bernie Madoff, who comes off as an obsessive-compulsive nut in a Fortune profile by James Bandler and Nicholas Varchaver. In immaculately tailored suits, he dusted furniture and got down on hands and knees to straighten rugs....

'Devastated' Stanford: I'm No Thief

Billionaire denies running Ponzi scheme, points finger at former CFO

(Newser) - “As God is my witness, there is no Ponzi scheme," accused swindler Sir Robert Allen Stanford told the Houston Chronicle yesterday. His financial companies were well-run before the government seized and "disemboweled" them, claimed the billionaire. If any fraud was committed at Stanford Financial, it was done...

Rattner, Obama's Auto Chief, Caught Up in Kickbacks Probe

Source says Rattner linked to pension fund pay-for-play deal

(Newser) - Steven Rattner, the head of President Obama's auto task force, is involved in an SEC probe of a kickback scandal involving New York state's pension fund, a source tells the Wall Street Journal. Rattner is not accused of any wrongdoing, but is believed to have directed a $1.1 million...

Stanford Pulled in $5B While SEC Dithered

Feds ignored employee warnings, fumbled over jurisdiction

(Newser) - When the Securities and Exchange Commission sent probing questionnaires in 2005 to investors who’d bought certificates of deposit from Stanford Group, panic set in. “Then it all seemed to go away,” says one former Stanford employee. Concerns over jurisdiction stayed the SEC’s hand for almost 4...

SEC Probes BofA for Being Mum on Merrill Bonuses

Bank may have illegally misled investors over pre-takeover Merrill payouts

(Newser) - The SEC is looking into whether Bank of America violated federal law by failing to let investors know Merrill Lynch planned to pay its execs $3.62 billion in bonuses before it was taken over by BofA last year, the Financial Times reports. The regulator is reviewing the bank's disclosure...

Short Sellers Reined In by SEC, Lenders

(Newser) - After years of criticism, the SEC is reigning in short sellers, the Wall Street Journal reports. First it cracked down on “naked” short selling, the practice of selling stock one doesn’t actually possess, and tomorrow it could reinstate the “uptick rule,” which had, until 2007, forced...

GM, Auditors Doubt Survival Unless Sales Pick Up Fast

Bankruptcy threatens if auto sales don't pick up

(Newser) - General Motors and its auditors expressed doubts about the automaker’s survival in an SEC filing today. Bankruptcy looms, the firm notes, if the viability plan it gave Congress fails, MarketWatch reports. That plan depends on vehicle sales recovering next year, as well as the company's ability to get financing...

SEC Overlooked Stanford Fraud in 2003

Former employee warned agency, others of 'Ponzi scheme'

(Newser) - A former employee of Sir Allen Stanford warned the SEC in 2003 of an “illegal Ponzi scheme” involving his firms, but regulators brushed off the allegations, the Financial Times reports. The whistleblower also told another regulatory body that one of Stanford’s companies was “engaged in a Ponzi...

New SEC Chief Moves Fast to Restore Agency

Schapiro fills openings, reverses Bush policies at battered regulator

(Newser) - New chairwoman Mary Schapiro isn’t wasting time making over the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Times reports, reversing several of her predecessor’s policies and filling key positions that have sat vacant for months. “I recognize that we could all be defined by what we missed...

Yanks' Damon Stung by Stanford Scandal

(Newser) - Two New York Yankees—Johnny Damon and Xavier Nady— have had their finances frozen by the SEC in connection with the Stanford fraud scandal, Fox Sports reports. Both players kept their money in Stanford banks, and the SEC says they should have access to it in a few days. But...

Madoff Bought No Stocks—for 13 Years

(Newser) - The trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff’s companies said today the disgraced financier appears not to have purchased any securities for his clients for “perhaps as much as 13 years,” Bloomberg reports. It was “cash in and cash out,” Irving Picard said. "It was all just...

Stanford's Dad: 'I Hope He's Not a Crook'

(Newser) - “I can’t believe these allegations,” says James Stanford. The 81-year-old has recently been subpoenaed by the SEC about the actions of his now-infamous son, R. Allen Stanford, who’s accused of an $8 billion fraud scheme. Stanford sits on the Stanford Financial board but hasn’t been...

SEC Missed Stanford Warning Signs
SEC Missed Stanford Warning Signs
Feb 19, 2009 5:24 AM CST

SEC Missed Stanford Warning Signs

Minor fines levied for violations that should have been red flags

(Newser) - Years of SEC probes into the Stanford Group's finances resulted in wrist-slaps for violations that experts believe should have been huge red flags for investigators, the New York Times reports. The firm, suspected of engaging in an $8 billion fraud, paid out just $60,000 in the past 2 years...

Antigua, Stanford's Banking Base, Braces

Account holders line up to withdraw money, despite assurances from PM

(Newser) - The SEC's allegations of fraud against R. Allen Stanford prompted concern on the tiny Caribbean island of Antigua, the base of the financier's bank. Despite reassurances from the prime minister, customers lined up at both branches of the Bank of Antigua to make withdrawals yesterday. Some seemed to emerge with...

Stanford Spent Millions to Lobby Congress

$8B scammer's island junkets helped push anti-tax agenda

(Newser) - Billionaire R. Allen Stanford has spent millions of dollars in attempting to enlist high-powered Washington officials in his anti-tax efforts, reports the Wall Street Journal. Stanford’s investment companies spent over $5 million on lobbying, $2 million on campaign contributions, and thousands more on flying members of Congress to the...

Lawyer Bolted From Stanford, Sparking $8B SEC Action

Attorney 'disaffirmed' earlier statements

(Newser) - A Washington attorney who represented R. Allen Stanford’s Antigua-based bank quit his post and recanted testimony to investigators last week, sparking the SEC’s public accusations of “massive, ongoing fraud,” Bloomberg reports. Stanford is suspected of misrepresenting the safety of $8 billion invested with his various financial...

Fugitive Financier Has $8B Headstart
Fugitive Financier Has $8B Headstart
OPINION
Feb 18, 2009 1:48 AM CST

Fugitive Financier Has $8B Headstart

SEC has slim chance of finding Stanford, missing stash

(Newser) - Financier Robert Allen Stanford is now a fugitive and SEC officials don't look any likelier to get their man than his investors do to get their money back, Felix Salmon writes in Portfolio. Regulators have been sniffing around his operations for long enough to ensure he's got a contingency plan...

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